Have reports of the death of Social Media been greatly exaggerated?
Believe it or not, neither of these guys is Rick Liebling
Recently Geoff Livingston wrote about the death of Social Media (for him at least). By this he meant, adoption has grown to the point that for innovation leaders – of which Geoff certainly qualifies – the buzz just isn’t there anymore. Greg Verdino chimed in with his take, stating that while Geoff is certainly speaking for the leading edge innovators, for many people and corporations, Social Media is still in its early stages.
I tend to lean towards Verdino’s take on this, but I’ll challenge Livingston more directly. I’d argue that Geoff’s position is premature, and reminds me of this quote:
“Everything that can be invented, has been invented.”
This quote is attributed to Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, in 1899(!)*
So, because adoption of Social Media has gone mainstream, we should expect innovation to stop? Here’s Livingston:
“But from an innovators standpoint, as someone who lives on the edge, who wants to be where new frontiers are being created, we’re at the end. For me, social media is dead… That means it’s future forward.”
By that logic, shouldn’t Geoff have given up on the Internet altogether about 10 years ago? Did he stop listening to music sometime in the early 80s? There’s a certain presumption to the notion that once the mainstream have adopted it, innovation will stop. This isn’t high fashion, it’s high tech. As more people engage in Social Media the opportunity for more innovation increases, not decreases.
Perhaps there will be a dip as the leading edge innovators like Geoff move on, and we should all be grateful for pioneers like him. But as a new group of residents move in to the Social Media neighborhood, they’ll bring new ideas and fresh perspectives. They’ll build upon what came before them and eventually we’ll see things like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook morph into new, more interesting versions, just like the Internet itself.
*Yes, I realise this quote has been widely debunked, but I’m not going to let facts get in the way of making my point!
UPDATE: I’ve changed some of the language, though not the intent, of this post. After discussing with those involved it became clear that some of my words were ill-chosen.
Tags: geoff livingston, Greg Verdino, social media is dead, Web 2.0
If you reread my post, I just said for me it was passing. Expanding, I feel a lack of energy and excitement towards social because for me it’s not really innovative anymore. That’s a personal thing. And I reserve the right to stop investing energy in initiatives like educating people on social media because of it. I am more into mobile and geography and semantic Internet techs right now.
I will also add that your tone in this post is sounding like you are threatened by the prospect of social media not being special anymore.
Social isn’t dead, nor is innovation.
Radio isn’t dead. Media isn’t dead. Great innovation still drives great products, and strong messages with remarkable creative are still successful.
With that said, the value of social hasn’t begun to be tapped. Social as an integrated marketing discipline, sitting together with CRM, Media, PR, Corp Comms and Product teams will open new worlds of collaboration and new formats of ROI.
Social may not be as sexy as it was, but that’s because it’s no longer a shiny object. It is real business. It’s not a shiny object, it’s a real opportunity.
Some people live on the edge of perpetual nascence, just a few years ahead of the market. Others stick with it and build an industry. Sure, social awareness is going mainstream, but social value, ROI, marketing, creative messaging is still around the corner.
Geoff,
Threatened? Certainly not. I’m not in the Social Media business, I’m in the great ideas business (you are welcome to challenge my success in that business). The channel doesn’t matter, the ideas do. I completely respect your right to move on, I just think it’s early to write off innovation in Social Media.
I agree with Geoff here, the tone of that post is quite defensive. Is social media dead yet? No, but it sure will once my mom get on Twitter.
Bernard,
Thanks for dropping by. I agree that Twitter or Facebook or whatever Social Media Network you like is going through some growing pains and experiencing some ‘jumping the shark’ moments. But I think we’ll push through that and you’ll see another wave of innovation. Some platforms, maybe Twitter, will die out too. But I still think we have some time to go before the end times comes.
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